Tourism. Trends. Tactics. Technology.

August 22, 2018

Cover the Progress

It's one of the banes of our existence as Destination Marketers. We promote great brands and experiences. And a hurricane, tornado, flood (fill in the blank) occurs. And, then the "Jim Cantore Effect" descends upon our community. The reality that the national media arrive, showcase the carnage...and then leave, with no intention of coming back to report on the recovery. Thus, consumers believe destinations to be off the board far longer than they are. And far longer than they need to be.

Puerto Rico suffered just such a devastating blow almost a year ago. And after an embarrassing lack of aid from the Federal Government and hours upon hours of coverage of the devastation...most Americans are still leery of a vacation there. And, they so shouldn't be. I was in San Juan last December and could find few examples of a city not ready to welcome the world.

To be sure, the more rural areas were still struggling...but, they are now mostly back. And, none more sensationally than Punta Santiago...the site of the iconic SOS image painted on their street.

Comments

Who said viral? This update from Wednesday afternoon: Thus far, we have garnered over 150M impressions and secured interviews with top-tier media including CBS News, NY Daily News, Bustle, EFE, among others.

The BIENVENIDOS video posted on Discover Puerto Rico’s Facebook page continues getting traction. Currently, it has been shared more than 2,700 times and has more than 78,000 views, in addition to the 8K views on YouTube. Snippets of the video and the iconic before and after image of Punta Santiago has been featured by NowThis, HLN and expecting additional social push via CBS social media channels.